THE GARDENING WORLD. 
October 31 , 1891 . 
rzs 
growers arc watching the progress of their 
blooms to perfection with tlie deepest 
interest. The excessive rainfall has made 
for them an anxious time, but it might 
have been worse. So far the promise is 
good ; may that promise be abundantly 
realised. 
unicipal Chrysanthemums. —We no¬ 
tice, with great pleasure, that the 
London County Council not only continues 
in the path of its predecessor, the Metro¬ 
politan Board of Works, in promoting good 
displaysof Chrysanthemums in the London 
Parks under its control, but also en¬ 
courages their expansion, so that this year 
the shows are really remarkably fine, and 
surprise those who, not having previously 
seen them, find very fine and effective 
displays. The great feature of these Town 
Park Shows, to our mind, is that in spite 
of the surroundings, and being placed in 
each case amidst the poorer and most 
populous neighbourhoods, j'et the plants 
are wonderfully robust and healthy, and 
the flowers fine and well coloured. 
Naturally, the Japanese forms are in the 
greatest profusion. At Victoria Park there 
are in the show house, which is a long, 
broad structure, some two hundred plants, 
and there are probably from one thousand 
five hundred to one thousand eight hundred 
in each of the other parks of Battersea, 
Finsbury and Southwark. Of course, all 
these excel by a long way those shown in 
the Temple Gardens, good as they are, and 
have the merit of being provided by the 
municipality for the people whose shows 
they really are. But the growers of these 
hosts of plants have experienced much 
difficulty in keeping out damp during the 
recent disastrously wet weather. Damp 
has been the bete noir of the Chrysanthe¬ 
mum grower universally, and many a too 
early noble bloom has had to be sacrificed 
because of the too prevalent wetness, 
which no measures could check. 
If any demonstration were needed as to 
the great fitness of the Chrysanthemum for 
town cultivation, these large municipal 
collections furnish it. That fact, however, 
we knew long since. However, we most 
cordially give to the respective Park 
Superintendents all possible praise for 
their Chrysanthemum Shows this year, 
praise to which the respective growers are 
also entitled to share in, whilst the London 
County Council merit our best thanks also. 
he Floods. —Even where not literally 
under water, as is the case of so much 
land, there can be no question but that the 
ground is so saturated that it is almost in 
a flooded condition, and is suffering greatly 
from the immense access of water which 
has marked what must be considered a 
very abnormal season. That work of all 
kinds on the ground has been greatly 
hindered, is of course all too true. Late 
Potatos it is almost impossible to lift, 
because the soil resembles clay; planting 
cannot be proceeded with for the same 
reason. Farmers are at their wits’ end how 
to prepare the soil for the autumn sowings, 
and already the state of the ground dis¬ 
counts the prospects for the next year’s 
corn crops. Thus an abnormal season 
casts a dark cloud a long way ahead. 
But still we have all to admit that what 
we are experiencing was due, and must 
have come upon us sooner or later. We 
had, from August of last year until the 
spring a wonderfully dry time, and although 
we had a good deal of rain through the 
summer months, yet the general effect on 
the soil was not considerable, because the 
warmer temperature of the season soon 
dried it up again. Now that the sun 
exercises little influence on the condition 
of the soil everj r drop of rain tells. The 
ground is now literally full up of moisture, 
although for the good of the trees whose 
roots run deep we have not had a drop too 
much. 
It is rather because we have had the 
moisture crowded into the autumn so 
abundantly that the floods have come. 
Given a few dry days and these will, 
however, soon subside. Unfortunately 
there seems to be little hope that we shall 
have any appreciable extent of dry weather 
yet, and it is just possible that what of dry 
atmosphere we get this winter, may result 
only from frosts. It is even yet possible 
that we may get little of frosc, as so far 
these visitations have not been felt. It is 
indeed an unusual thing for us to pass 
through October without some sharp 
frosts. 
utumn Tints. —It is rather an unusual 
experience that we should have a 
veritable autumn tint without real autumn 
natural elements. Somehow, wonderful as 
it may seem to observe all vegetation more 
or less exhibiting itself in various stages of 
decay, yet is there in such decay—nay 
even in such death—much that is beauti¬ 
ful. Just as the swan is said to sing its 
own death dirge, so, in a metaphonical 
sense, do the trees seem to go to their 
annual death in exceeding beauty. But 
still the rich coloration which ordinarily 
constitue the death trappings of the deci¬ 
duous trees is only usually apparent when 
the autumn time is warm and dry. Then 
very often is our rude copy of the Indian 
summer a gloriously beautiful season, 
all too short, all too fugitive, but still very 
lovely. 
This year alas! we have the death of 
the leaves upon us, but much of the beauty 
is absent, the rich display at the Drill Hail 
on Tuesday notwithstanding. Either under 
the constant rainfalls the trees retain their 
foliage in exceeding greenness, or else they 
have their decaying foliage torn to shreds 
or stripped from the branches, and cast to 
the earth in the wildest way, and most 
ignoble fashion. When the sun warms the 
autumn air, and lights up with its soft but 
ruddy glow the foliage of the Oaks, Elms, 
planes, Birches and Beeches, the Acers 
and the Liquidambars, the Chesnuts and 
the Poplars, there is in nature a beauty 
from which we reluctantly part. 
This season we shall hail the completion 
of the fall of the leaf with satisfaction. So 
far the trees have suffered heavily under 
the fierce and terrible forces of the storms. 
They have strewn lawns and gardens with 
leafage and wreck. The sooner, now, all 
is over, nature’s rest has come and the last 
leaf is gathered to its fellows, the better 
will it be for all who garden. 
A long Pelargonium Border.—Perhaps the largest 
Pelargonium border ever planted was one seen this 
season in the Washington Park, Chicago. It was of 
serpentine form, 1,853 ft. long, 5 ft. 6 in. wide, and 
contained 11,655 plants in seventeen varieties. 
Royal Western Horticultural Society.—The good 
town of Plymouth has, it seems, never enjoyed the 
luxury of a spring flower show, but at a recent 
meeting of the Royal Western Horticultural Society 
it was decided that this should no longer be the case, 
and arrangements were made for holding a show in 
the Guildhall in May next. 
The effects of last Winter.— L'Illustration HorticoU 
relates that some large and well developed trees of 
the Weymouth Pine (Pinus Strobus) succumbed to 
the effects of the severe weather last winter in the 
Citadel Park at Ghent. After dying they quite dried 
up, notwithstanding the humidity of the season ; and 
their destruction cannot be attributed to anything 
else except excessive cold. 
Cattleya labiata autumnalis vera—On Friday, be¬ 
fore this number will have reached all our readers. 
Orchid lovers will enjoy a unique spectacle in the 
sale room of Messrs. Protheroe & Morris. The old 
autumn-flowering Cattleya labiata has for many 
years been a scarce and highly valued plant, and 
such a sight as some 200 specimens of it in bloom, 
which the Messrs. Linden, of Brussels, will offer for 
sale on that day, has certainly never been seen before 
in this country. Their exhibition and sale will cer¬ 
tainly be one of the Orchidic events of the year. 
Japanese Melon. —Under the name of Melon 
Japonais, M. E. A. Carriere has been recommending 
a Melon which is the smallest and probably also the 
earliest of edible Melons. The fruit is about 4 in. 
long, and a little under 3 in. in diameter, deep green, 
changing to yellow when mature, at the same time 
giving off a strange but agreeable odour. The flesh 
is green, sugary, melting, juicy, and possessed of a 
flavour resembling that of Orange flowers. Besides 
being early, it is furthermore remarkable for its fer¬ 
tility and prolonged production. 
Carnation Mrs. Muir. —Mr. M. Campbell, of Blan- 
tyre, N. B., sends us a fine bunch of flowers, 
singularly pure in colour, and deliciously sweet for 
the season, of this excellent white variety. Mr. 
Campbell informs us that the blooms were cut from 
plants out in the open ground all last winter, and 
adds, " we cut the first flowers from these plants in 
the first week in August. Our heaviest cutting was 
150 dozens in the second week in September. This 
morning, Oct. 19th, I have cut ten dozen, and should 
the weather keep open they will give us flowers for 
a fortnight yet." 
A white Wistaria.—Under the name of Wistaria 
multijuga alba, what appears to be a very fine thing 
has been introduced from Japan by the Messrs. 
Transon, of Orleans. Lt Moniteur A'Horticulture says 
that it is very floriferous, and produces straight 
racemes or bunches of flowers 20 in. to 30 in. long. 
The plant is vigorous, and grows very strongly for 
the first few years, and attains a full flowering state 
in the course of four or five years. It is propagated 
in the same way as the well known Wistaria 
sinensis. 
Greenwich Park —The Greenwich Vestry, after a 
consultation with H. M.’s Office of Works, on the 
subject of improving Greenwich Park, have passed 
and forwarded to the Commissioners of Works a 
resolution asking that the seven acres now apportioned 
off as a park for the deer may be thrown open, on 
the ground that the animals have decreased so in 
numbers, and are so seldom seen, that they have 
ceased to be an attraction, and their entire removal 
will give the public the enjoyment of seven more 
acres of the park. 
The Devon and Exeter Gardeners’ Association, 
formed less than a month ago, commenced its first 
session on the 21st inst. Under the chairmanship 
of Mr. Alderman Roberts, the first meeting was 
numerously attended, and Mr. D. C. Powell, of 
Powderham Castle Gardens, read an excellent paper 
on " Apples.” He had intended treating of Pears as 
well, but there was not time for this. The paper 
evoked a spirited discussion, in which Mr. Peter 
Veitch, Mr. George (late of Bicton), Mr. Carlisle 
(late of Martin's-lane), and others took part, the 
remarks all being of the most practical nature. The 
next paper is to be delivered on November 4th, by 
the Rev. Dr. Dangar, on "Bees and Bee-keeping." 
Polygonum affine. —The quantity of flowers pro¬ 
duced by this species and their duration has made 
the plant a favourite with many growers. Owing 
to its dwarf habit, it is perhaps best suited for the 
rock garden ; but so hardy and vigorous is it that 
broad patches may be planted on banks amongst 
grass by the side of drives, or in the wild garden. 
Small pieces are of no value, while a broad patch is 
as effective at a distance as a flower bed at mid¬ 
summer. The spikes of pink flowers are three or 
our inches long, and are well backed up by a carpet 
of bright green foliage. 
Sulphate of Copper and the health. —Many authori¬ 
ties believe that the employ’ment of sulphate of 
copper—to which recourse has been had for some 
years past for the destruction of animal and vegetable 
parasites which attack cultivated plants-—will be 
destructive to health. Numerous experiments have 
proved sufficiently that this is wholly an error. 
L'Illustration Horticole states that it has been proved 
that sulphated Grapes only contain a maximum of 
